Employees hired prior to January 6, 2003 may be eligible for Sick Leave and Vacation in lieu of PTO. Please refer to the section titled, “Provisions for Employees Hired Prior to January 6, 2003” to review the Traditional Leave option.

A description of each type of paid leave is outlined below.

Eligible employees may also be eligible for benefits to cover absences due to personal medical conditions under Salary Continuation Pay and/or Long Term Disability.

All employees may be eligible for paid time off for jury duty, court appearances or to vote.

Holidays

UCAR celebrates 9 holidays per year. They are as follows:

New Year's Day

Martin Luther King Day - (third Monday in January)

Presidents' Day

Memorial Day

July 4th

Labor Day

Thanksgiving Day

Friday after Thanksgiving

Christmas Day

Holidays that fall on Saturday are celebrated the preceding Friday. Holidays that fall on Sunday are celebrated the following Monday. All UCAR employees except Casuals are paid for holidays. Eligible part-time employees receive holiday pay in proportion to their appointments. Employees on certain leaves of absence are eligible in accordance with UCAR policy. A holiday that occurs during other paid leave (PTO, vacation or sick leave) will not be charged to your personal leave bank. You may not receive compensation in lieu of holidays.

Family Leave

Eligible employees may take up to ten working days per calendar year to care for the illness of an immediate family member or upon the birth or adoption of an infant. These days are paid and are not charged to any employee leave bank. You may be required to document that your presence is required to directly assist the ill family member. Exempt employees may not take partial days of Family Leave; non-exempt employees may take partial days of Family Leave.

Under the UCAR Leave Policy, immediate family is considered to be spouse, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, comparable step, foster and in-law relatives and significant others.

Personal Time Off (PTO)

Eligible employees accrue PTO credits according to the following schedule:

Less than two years of service - twenty working days per year.

From two to eight years of service - twenty-six working days per year.

Over eight years of service - thirty-two working days per year.

The President, Executive Officers, Senior Managers, Senior Engineers and Scientists (except Associate Scientists) accrue PTO credits at the rate of thirty-two working days per year.

Scientific Visitors with appointments of more than six months accrue PTO credits at the rate of thirty-two days per year.

Postdoctoral Fellows accrue twenty days of PTO credit per year.

Part-time eligible employees earn PTO in proportion to their appointments. Employees with appointments of six months or less (including visitors) and Casual employees receive no PTO credit.

Employees on certain types of leaves of absence and those who receive benefits under UCAR's Long Term Disability Plan accrue no PTO credits.

Maximum accrued PTO is 54 days (432 hours). Unused PTO credits will be paid upon termination from UCAR. Employees approved for Long Term Disability benefits may elect to receive a payout of accrued but unused PTO immediately. PTO credits will automatically be paid out after nine months.

If you leave UCAR's employ and return within one year, you will be reinstated with your previous rate of PTO accumulation.

Using PTO

PTO may be used for any absence including employee illness, vacation, personal days off, etc. Your supervisor must approve planned absences such as vacation in advance. You may use PTO in units of one hour or more. You may not take PTO in excess of your actual accumulated entitlement. PTO credits accrue while on PTO.

Sick Leave Reserve

Sick Leave Reserve (SLR) may be used to cover absences due to personal medical condition if you have no accrued PTO credits. Eligible employees are granted six days of SLR upon hire (in proportion to their appointment). Exempt employees may use SLR in whole day increments; non-exempt employees may use partial days of SLR.

If you become eligible for Salary Continuation Pay (SCP), your accrued SLR will be used to replenish PTO credits used during the first ten days before going on SCP. SLR is not replenished as it is used and is not paid out upon termination.

Family Death Leave

Family death leave is granted with pay for up to five working days per incident to arrange and/or attend a funeral after the death of a member of your immediate family. This leave is provided to eligible employees and is not deducted from any employee leave bank.

Education Leave

Employees receiving benefits under UCAR’s Educational Assistance Program may take the equivalent of five course hours per week without salary deduction or time make-up, not to exceed 156 hours per year. Time away from your job for course work not made up must be recorded on your payroll time card as educational time. Additional time off from your job (more than five hours per week or more than 156 hours per year) is subject to your supervisor's approval, and must be made up either before or after regular working hours.

Other Time Off With Pay

Jury Duty and Court Appearances

You are encouraged to accept and discharge your civic responsibility when called upon for jury duty. All Regular and Term employees working regular schedules will be granted paid time off when subpoenaed for jury duty or for a court appearance. Employees will be paid at their normal rate of pay for the actual working hours spent on such duty. Casual employees previously scheduled by their supervisors to work during the period of jury duty or court appearance will receive paid time off. Casual employees will be paid at their normal rate of pay for the actual scheduled working hours spent on such duty. However, Casual employees not previously scheduled by their supervisors to work during the period of jury duty or court appearance will not be paid for such duty. The employee's supervisor may require the employee to furnish a copy of the summons or subpoena.

Requests for deferment of jury service will not be supported by UCAR except when unusual job requirements make such a request absolutely necessary. A request for deferment will be made in writing by the employee's supervisor to the Human Resources Department detailing the reasons for the request. The Director of Human Resources will request deferment from the appropriate court official.

Time off for court appearances related to personal legal affairs is not paid by UCAR but may be charged to PTO.

Time Off to Vote

If entitled to vote in an election, you may be absent with pay for the purpose of voting for a period of up to two hours between the opening and closing of the polls.

Civilian Military Service

All employees who have Reserve or National Guard service obligations will receive a leave of absence for training periods as required when official orders are presented to the Human Resources Department. You will be paid at your normal rate of pay while on civilian military leave.

Unpaid Leaves

Leaves of Absence for Personal Reasons

You may wish to take a leave of absence from UCAR for personal reasons. You will not receive compensation from UCAR nor will your fringe benefits be continued at UCAR expense during the leave period. Contributions by UCAR to its retirement plan will cease on the last day of the pay period for which you are paid. Some insurance coverage may be kept in force by your voluntary contributions during the leave period. Contact Human Resources for coverage and restrictions.

Active Military Service

UCAR conforms to the letter and spirit of all governmental statutes and regulations pertaining to leaves for active military service.

Accrued PTO can be paid out to an employee called to active service at the time of departure or the PTO accrual can be frozen until the employee is reinstated. The employee is not required to take unused PTO at this time.

When the employee returns, PTO is credited at the rate he or she would have been earning, had military service not intervened.

Professional and Scientific Leaves

Leaves of absence for career development are covered in policies outlined in the UCAR Policy Manual (Affiliate Professorships, Scientific Leaves, Professional Development Leave Program). Ad hoc leaves of absence for reasons similar to those described in these policies may be granted by the Director of NCAR or the President of UCAR upon finding that the leave is in the interests of UCAR.

Outside Employment Activities

PTO or leave without pay may be used during outside employment activities.

Extended Benefits for Medical Absences

There are two levels of coverage to protect employees who have extended absences due to a medical condition: Salary Continuation Pay (SCP) and Long Term Disability (LTD).

Salary Continuation Pay

All eligible employees are eligible for Salary Continuation Pay (SCP). You are eligible for SCP when your physician certifies that you have a medical condition that has resulted in ten or more days' absence from work. The ten days may be consecutive or may be sporadic during a calendar year. If the ten days are sporadic, your physician must certify that all are due to the same long term or chronic condition.

For a condition with more than ten working days continuous absence, all succeeding days are paid at 100% of pay for up to eleven weeks.

For a sporadic condition, the first ten days absent are not covered by SCP, but all succeeding days in the same calendar year, up to 55 days, will be covered by SCP.

For non-exempt employees only: you may be eligible for SCP in partial days to cover absences due to sporadic conditions. You may combine partial days absent to account for the first ten days in the year not covered by SCP.

For exempt employees: you may claim SCP in whole day increments only.

Payments under SCP do not reduce any employee leave banks. If you have a balance in your Sick Leave Reserve and receive SCP, your SLR hours will be transferred to your PTO balance to cover any PTO used during the first ten days of absence. SLR will not be replenished as it is used.

The physician’s certification should be sent directly to Human Resources. UCAR will generally rely on the employee’s physician to certify the need for an extended medical absence, however UCAR reserves the right to request, at its own expense, that the employee obtain the opinion of a second healthcare provider approved by UCAR.

If the medical condition may continue for more than three months, the employee should apply for Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits as soon as possible. The Human Resources Department will provide information explaining how to apply for LTD benefits.

Return to Work

Following an extended or serious medical absence, you may be required to submit a doctor’s statement indicating that you can return to work. This statement must be submitted before you return to work. If the medical information submitted is not, at the discretion of UCAR, sufficient to establish the ability to return to work, you may be required to submit to an examination by a doctor selected and paid by UCAR.

UCAR complies with the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA provides federally mandated protection to employees requiring leave for personal or family conditions.

Provisions for Employees Hired Prior to January 6, 2003.

Eligible employees hired prior to January 6, 2003 were eligible for a leave plan that included traditional Sick Leave/Vacation banks. There are transition issues from the old plans to the new plans that affect all benefit eligible employees. The transition issues will apply only to the first year of the new plan and will not affect employees hired after January 5, 2003.

Employees hired prior to January 6, 2003 may elect to participate in the new PTO plan or continue with a modified Sick Leave/Vacation plan as described below. Employees hired after January 5, 2003 will be covered under the PTO plan only.

If you select the traditional option for 2003, you may select the PTO option in any future year. The effective date for the change will be the beginning of the next calendar year.

If you select the PTO option for 2003, you may change back to the Traditional Leave option in 2004. You may then change back to the PTO option in 2005 or later, but will not have the option to revert to the Traditional Leave option a second time.

Transition Issues

For Employees Electing PTO Leave:

Effective January 6, 2003, your Vacation bank will be renamed PTO. All accrued but unused vacation hours will be transferred to the PTO bank. An additional six days of PTO will be added to your balance (part time employees will have six days prorated to their FTE added, e.g., half-time employees will have 24 hours added to their PTO bank). Because you are advanced six days of PTO for the first year of the plan, your accrual of PTO will be reduced by six days for the first year. If you would normally accrue twenty-six days of PTO, you will be advanced six days at the beginning of this first year and accrue twenty days during this first year. Beginning in 2004 your accrual will be increased by six days per year. The six days of PTO advanced at the beginning of the year is a one-time event.

If you have a Sick Leave Balance as of January 4, 2003, it will be transferred to your Sick Leave Reserve; but the maximum amount transferred will be ten days.

If you elect the PTO option you may switch back to the Traditional Leave option in 2004. If you switch back, all accrued and unused PTO will be credited as Vacation. Your Sick Leave balance will be the lesser of your Sick Leave balance as of January 6, 2003 or 192 hours (24 days) minus hours taken from your SLR (if any).

If you select the PTO option for 2003, you may change back to the Traditional Leave option in 2004. You may then change back to the PTO option in 2005 or later, but will not have the option to revert to the Traditional Leave option a second time.

For Employees Electing Traditional Sick Leave/Vacation

Effective January 6, 2003, your Sick Leave balance will be the lesser of: your balance as of January 6, 2003 or 192 hours (24 days). Your vacation balance remains unchanged.

Ongoing Provisions for Employees Electing Traditional Sick Leave/Vacation:

You are eligible for all leave provisions described above; but in place of PTO and Sick Leave Reserve, you are eligible for Vacation and Sick Leave as described below:

Vacation

Full-time eligible employees accrue vacation credits according to the following schedule:

Less than two years of service - fourteen working days per year.

From two to eight years of service - twenty working days per year.

Over eight years of service - twenty-six working days per year.

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